Peggy Ford: Religion and government a poor mix

Thursday

Jul 26, 2012 at 1:56 PM

I would like to respond to James Ivey’s July 25 letter titled “Time to reunite church and state,” in which he suggests that adding more religion to our government will somehow prevent tragedies like the recent shooting spree in Colorado.

In condemning our country for holding to the separation of church and state “nearly to the point of abject atheism,” he suggests three things: (1) we need more religious references in our government, currency and legal procedures to get Americans to practice religion, (2) practicing a religion makes everyone more “fit, honorable and honest,” and (3) if more people were fit, honorable and honest, tragedies like the shooting in Colorado would not happen.

As to the first point, even Ivey would probably agree that Americans practice our religions freely and vocally without needing to rely on government endorsement of them. The government should stay out of our personal lives, including our worship. Fairness, equality and justice are rightly at the foundation of our government, and they are also part of many organized religions. But fairness, equality and justice are recognized by every human being – even ones with no religion at all.

Which brings us to the second point: throughout history, people have been using religions to justify both humane and inhumane acts and attitudes – the mere presence of religion does not ensure honor or honesty (I’m not sure what Ivey means by “fitness”). One has only to look at the world-wide Catholic child-abuse scandal to see the harm that can be done by people who are incredibly religious. The bottom line is that religion can help or hurt, depending on the person. So we need to help the person, not the religion.

And for Ivey’s third point, that if everyone were honorable and honest we would reduce the number of people with “murderous tendencies,” I think he has missed the true issue. I am not a psychologist, but I believe that compassion and empathy would go a lot farther in helping prevent the devastating consequences when people feel frustrated, abandoned, unloved or bullied. Instead of forcing religion into our government, maybe we should include in our national identity the idea that Americans stand together for fairness, equality, justice "and compassion."Peggy Ford,Gainesville